Immortal
by BOC42
Summary: With her dying breath, Kim promises to stay with Ron forever.  Will she be able to keep her word?  I promise, not your average death-fic.
1. Default Chapter

I don't own Kim Possible, or her way-cool sidekick, or his naked mole-rat. Too bad for me.

Author's note: This is my first non-oneshot story, so I'm expecting lots of reviews to help me along! I promise, this isn't your ordinary death-fic, even out of the not-so-ordinary ones. Please read and review, and tell your friends. Thanks!

She was lying in my arms, bleeding. I knew she was dying, but I wasn't about to accept it.

"K.P. – no, stay with me! You're…you're gonna make it."

She just looked at me, dazed. We'd both heard the doctor's grim analysis before she had stepped away to give us some privacy.

A mission gone so horribly wrong…

Kim shuddered heavily. Her tear-flooded eyes seemed to focus suddenly on a point in the air above my shoulder. Her face contorted with pain, and she shook her head violently at whatever phantom it was she was seeing.

"Kim – no. Look at me, you can't leave me!" I shook her slightly, raw agony tearing at my voice. Kim looked back at me. "Come on, who do I have if you leave? Who's gonna eat nacos with me? Who's gonna help me with my homework, or go see movies with me? Who's gonna care…who's gonna be my best friend?"

I knew it was selfish of me. There she was, dying in my arms, and all I cared about was _me. _ But I couldn't stop the words from coming. She was everything to me, and she had to know it.

I pulled her up onto my knees as I knelt on the cold floor. She moaned in pain at the sudden movement. I gazed hard into her eyes, letting my tears spill onto her cheeks.

Again, Kim turned her attention to the space beyond my shoulder. She stared into space for a long time, unmoving. Panic grew within me.

"Kim…"

She smiled and uttered a fervent "yes" to her phantom. She looked back at me.

"Ron…Ron," she began gasping for air. Kim reached up and cupped my face in her hands. I turned my head and kissed her palm. She took a deep, rattling breath. "You have to believe me when I tell you…that I will _never_ leave you."

I bent over further, closing the distance between us. My heart said she wasn't lying. "I believe. And I love you, Kim."

I kissed her, holding her close in her last seconds of life. As she slipped away, I felt her return my kiss. Weak and barely there, but still present.

She fell back, and I was alone. She was gone. Gone like the sun on a summer day, beautiful and radiant even in its passing.


	2. Without Her

I don't own Kim Possible…yadda, yadda… 

_Thanks for all your reviews; I really appreciate them! I know doing the first chapter from Ron's POV was kinda weird, but it didn't want to be written in third person. HOWEVER! The rest of the story will be in third person, which makes it easier on all of us…here we go, and I promise, a twist _is_ coming!_

_Another thing: sorry if any of you read my second chapter. See, it wasn't really my second chapter but my computer and I are currently not on friendly terms, so it kindly uploaded the _wrong_ chapter. So yeah. Here's the _right_ second chapter. Thanks!_

Ron had managed to make it through yet another school day without Kim. It was still hard, even though weeks had passed. Most of the student body seemed to have more or less moved on. Yes, Kim had been popular, but none of them seemed to care very much after a while.

Of course, there would be a dedicatory page in the yearbook with her on it, and the football team and cheer squad had held a vigil for her…but people just seemed to be moving on. Ron was glad that they didn't hurt, but he still felt angry that people could forget heroes so easily.

He slumped down the hallway and opened his locker, only to find Rufus busying himself with a chip bag that was sliding off a math book. He leaned against the wall for a minute, staring at nothing. Someone tapped his shoulder.

Ron turned around slowly, only to see Josh Mankey standing beside him, holding something.

"Hey," Ron said automatically.

Josh nodded. "I wanted you to see something I drew. It's for Kim." Without saying anything else, he held up a sketch.

Kim… It was amazing. Somehow, in some unearthly way, Josh had managed to capture Kim on paper. He'd actually managed it.

Her hair…swinging around, seemingly with a mind of it's own. A belated memory of switching bodies with Kim suddenly struck Ron. Having hair tickling at his back had been so…irritating. Kind of odd, he reflected, how it never tickled like that when it occasionally had hit him other times.

There were her slim fingers, so soft and gentle when they needed to be. So rock-hard and unforgiving at other times. Her arms, too, were like that. They were cocked, ready to help launch Kim into the air. He missed her hugs. She always grabbed him so tightly, and with such sincerity that on more than one occasion it had nearly made him cry.

Somehow, her face was perfect. Even though it was only a sketch, her eyes seemed to glisten and snap, just like they always did when she was fighting. They were crinkled into that half-smiling, half-angry look that she always got. And her mouth…those lips that grinned so easily and felt like silk against his cheek…

Josh had captured everything. There was Kim, half-crouched, ready to fling herself gracefully into action. Ron could almost reach into the drawing and touch her quivering frame.

Ron felt a tear race down his cheek, and he touched the picture, tracing his finger down the side of his long-gone best friend's face. He looked in awe at Josh.

"How'd you manage it? Dude – how'd you _know?_"

Josh frowned, clearly disturbed by his artwork. "I wanted to draw her…I thought about putting the picture in the yearbook, or maybe giving it to her parents, but…you need to have it."

Ron swiftly wiped a tear from his face and said nothing, entranced.

"Yeah… I didn't have any idea what to draw when I started, but…then I had this crazy dream, and I saw her. I saw her in action, and, well…it was crazy. How could I not?"

Ron breathed painfully. "It's beautiful, Josh."

"_She's_ beautiful," insisted Josh. He held the sketch out to Ron. "I want you to have it."

Ron blinked hard. "No, I… I couldn't. It's yours, you keep it."

"Seriously, I _need_ you to have it, dude. You're the closest thing to Kim any of us has left. She'd want you to have it."

Ron accepted the sketch, muttering unintelligible thanks to Josh. Josh nodded and clapped him on the shoulder. Ron could see his eyes were moist.

"I'm sorry, man. I know it's hard – I know I can't understand how hard, but you'll pull through this. You're as strong as Kim ever was."

Ron blundered into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him, leaning on it. He let his backpack slip off his shoulder and land in a pile of dirty laundry. Breathless, he stared at himself in the mirror across the room.

The sketch seemed to burn in his hand. He hadn't shown his parents when he'd come in. They'd asked, but he'd shaken his head and ran upstairs. Right now the pain was raw again. Sometimes it would be better, but now and then it would return again, surging and demanding.

Gasping, he crossed to the dresser and propped the picture up against the mirror. He was dazed. Slowly, he sank down on his bed and stared at the picture, unblinking. The picture seemed strangely more life-like than any of the dozens of photos he had of her. He smiled as his chocolate eyes fastened on the penciled ones. She seemed almost alive again. There was some terrible, wonderful, hypnotic power to that picture that made him feel like Kim's very presence was in the room. Wildly he looked about, as if he could see her.

His eyes landed on a stuffed animal sitting on a pile of clean shirts on the floor. An involuntary smile lit his face up. Panderoo.

He grinned genuinely as he rolled off the bed and picked the soft, plush toy up. It still smelled like Kim. That half perfume, half fruity smell that she had. He remembered the day in 6th grade when Kim had come up to him after school, telling him she had a terrible confession to make. She'd dragged him up to her bedroom and shoved Panderoo in his face.

"I still sleep with him," she'd stated, as if accusing herself of some heinous crime.

Ron had grinned at the little animal, and then handed him back to Kim. "That's cool," he'd said.

Kim had burst into a grin and squeezed the little creature. "So you don't think I'm a baby for it?"

"Heck, no. Why should anyone care, K.P.?"

After Kim's funeral the Possibles had come to his house. Mrs. Doctor P had given him Panderoo.

"She'd want you to have it, Ron. You're the only one she trusted enough to tell."

Ron held Panderoo to his face, breathing in the sweet scent of his friend. It calmed him somewhat, and he laid back down on the bed and fell asleep, Panderoo clutched tightly to his chest.

_Thanks for reading! I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Again…a twist is coming! I promise! _


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't own Kim Possible, or any of her awesome friends. _

For nights on end Ron dreamed about Kim. It wasn't unusual; he'd been dreaming about KP since the day he met her.

Over and over he'd dream out the scenario of her death dozens of different ways, always ending with him somehow crushing the villains and saving her. In his dreams, nothing was too hard.

But in real life, everything was hard. Ron hooked up with Felix and Monique, trying to comfort each other without really saying they were. But it did help. Spending long hours after school playing basketball or watching wrestling really did keep his mind off Kim. Still, it hurt, even though it had been over a month.

"Hey man! How bout some one on one before class starts?" Felix shouted at Ron as they left the locker room. Monique was sprawled out in the bleachers, staring into space with tears in her eyes. Whenever she was left alone for too long, she tended to sink back into her melancholy state. Ron tried not to look at her, focusing completely on Felix, and trying to even up the score. A few seconds later, the ball snagged the wheel of Felix's chair, flying out of bounds and bouncing over to the door of the gym.

"I'll get it," Ron volunteered and started to jog towards the doors. That was when it happened.

The ball bounced up and stopped, about the height it would have had someone been holding it. It stayed suspended there for a few seconds before hurtling back at Ron's head as if someone had thrown it. He caught the ball and stared at the place it had been. He blinked. Kim was standing there in her cheerleading outfit. He blinked again. She was gone.

He ran forward, half expecting to crash into her. Behind him Monique gasped and tumbled off the bleachers.

"What happened?" Felix asked.

Ron shook his head hard, trying to get the image in his mind to leave. Or come back. "I just saw…Kim. Just like that time before when she came in and caught the ball… When you first moved here." He looked wildly over at Monique.

She was standing on the other side of Felix, nodding. "I saw her too. Just for a second."

"Whoa…you _saw_ Kim? You can't see Kim. She's…gone," Felix stammered reluctantly, but turned back to the space by the door, evidently hoping to see the same phantom Monique and Ron had. There was no such luck.

kpkpkpppkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpk

All day long Ron felt agitated and excited, as if something inside of him was screaming to get out. He fell asleep that night staring at Josh's picture and holding Panderoo to his cheek.

_Ron turned his attention from the warm, oozing naco to her. She was laughing hysterically. He frowned, confused._

_"What?"_

_Kim clutched her stomach and rolled over and over on the ground, laughing. "You were talking…" She gasped a few times. "…To the naco!" _

_He was caught. "Um…so? You've seen me do it before!"._

_"So? So it's funny, Ron! So you always make me laugh." She became somewhat serious and rolled over until she came up sitting right next to him. She brushed the hair out of her eyes to reveal a face red with laughter. "So you always make me feel better."_

_Ron grinned. "That's what I'm here for, KP." _

_Ron put an arm around her back and pulled her towards him so she was leaning against his shoulder, then continued eating his naco. _

_Kim giggled and relaxed, and within a few minutes she was out cold, her head in Ron's lap. He smiled and lobbed the remainders of his picnic lunch at a nearby garbage can._

Even as the dream ended and Ron woke up, he kept his eyes clenched shut and breathed slowly and deeply, because he could still feel her against him, and his heart didn't seem to hurt so much.

The alarm clock went off. Ron groaned and gathered his strength before lifting an arm to hit the snooze button. The alarm went dead before he touched it. Hoping his mom had come to tell him to take the day off, he opened his eyes.

He couldn't see the clock. He sat bolt upright, only to discover someone sitting on the side of the bed. Kim.

Shocked, Ron hesitantly reached out and poked her shoulder, expecting her to fade away. She was solid. Kim turned at his touch, looking at him sleepily.

"Morning," she muttered, stretching. Ron gasped and fell back, entangling himself in the sheets. He watched in awe as Kim got off the side of the bed and stretched.

"Going to school today?" she asked, as if nothing was wrong.

"Um…Kim…"

She grinned and clambered back onto the bed, putting an arm around him. She was still solid. Amazed, he poked at her again. She laughed. She was real…

"I promised I'd never leave you, Ron. You need me, and I need you. So here I am."

"What?"

"I'm waiting for you."

Author's Note:

Well, now that my computer and I like each other again, here's the third chapter. I'm posting this story mostly because it needs work, and I'm looking for advice and constructive criticism. So, if you've got a sec to spare, click on the review button and help a fellow author out! 


	4. I missed you

_I don't own Kim Possible and Co. Darn. _

Ron stared at her incoherently. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he gave up on saying anything.

Kim smiled a bit. "Can you accept the fact that I'm dead – but still here?"

For days on end Ron had longed to see her, for nights he had cried himself to sleep and dreamed about her. Then one morning he wakes up, only to find her sitting in his bedroom.

Again, Ron reached over and poked her. Still solid. "Are you sure you're dead, KP, cuz you don't feel like it," he said in wonderment.

She laughed and stood up, hands on Ron's shoulders. "Ron, for you, I _am_ alive."

Moments passed. Then, Ron felt a smile slowly stretch itself across his face, and he stood up and hugged her tightly.

"For how long, Kim?" he whispered into her hair.

"As long as you need me," she murmured, hugging him back.

As she spoke, Ron felt a tingling sensation on his back where Kim's hands were. His vision went black for a split second before:

_A shriek of delight came from somewhere outside of the car. Thirteen-year-old Ron sat up in the back seat and looked out, only to see Kim standing on his front lawn, jumping up and down._

_"KP!" Ron jumped from the car and ran towards his friend, his coonskin cap falling away from his messy blonde hair. _

_Kim met him halfway, jumping onto him.They fell backwards onto the grass, laughing. _

_"I missed you so much!" Kim giggled. _

_"Me too," Ron affirmed enthusiastically, pulling himself out from under her. _

_Kim sat back in the grass and regarded him. "Your mom told me you didn't exactly have the best time at Wannaweep."_

_Ron shuddered. "Place of evil, KP. Monkeys…I hate monkeys!"_

_"Monkeys?" Kim asked, surprised._

_"Yeah, long story."_

_"Should we go get some food? My mom gave me money for tacos," Kim suggested._

_Ron's eyes lit up. "You bet!"_

_Kim's face flushed as she pulled her friend up from the ground. "I _really_ missed you," she said again, determined._

_"I know, Kim. You've said it at least three times now."_

_"Do you believe me yet?" Kim asked as they headed up the sidewalk._

_Ron frowned and looked at her for a moment. "You're me best friend, KP. I believe you when you tell me something." He smiled. "I'm glad you missed me. I wondered if you were sometimes, sitting there in the dark listening to the monkey scream and the lake bubble…"_

_"I missed you all the time. And if I have anything to do with it, you're never going to summer camp again. We'd both be committed to insane asylums by the end of the summer." Kim smiled and put an arm around Ron. "Now. Tell me everything."_

"Whoa, what was that?" Ron jerked away from Kim, stunned.

Kim blinked. "Oh – it's this thing I can do. I can bring back any memory you or I have, perfectly intact."

"Really?" Ron's eyes grew round.

"It's pretty cool. The whole 'knowing everything after death' thing really works out well." Kim moved away and plopped herself down in Ron's desk chair.

"So why'd you show me that memory?" Ron asked, groping around on the floor for a pair of clean socks.

"I just wanted to show you…how much I miss you. I missed you when I died. That's why I wanted to come back." Kim's eyes left her friend and wandered to the wrestling posters on his wall.

"I didn't know you could miss someone after you died," mumbled Ron, now fishing through a chaotic dresser drawer to find a shirt.

"You can." Kim turned the chair so she wasn't facing Ron.

"So you can remember everything perfectly?" asked Ron in a muffled voice.

"What? Oh, yeah…" Kim frowned and looked back to see Ron struggling into his red shirt.

He poked his head through the neck, looking hopeful. "Even last week's math homework?"

Kim smiled crookedly. "That would be cheating."

Ron knelt down and pulled his sneakers out from under the bed. "I know, I know. No using your powers for evil, only good."

Kim laughed. "Right." She settled back into the chair, looking at Ron satisfied. "I've missed you."

Author's Apology:

I'm _really_ sorry about not posting my third chapter with the rest of the story. I assure you, I am trying to remedy this, but my endless battle with slow Internet connections and ancient computers wages on…


	5. Two Down

1Ron looked up from his history essay (Teddy Roosevelt's Big Stick Policy) and saw Kim sitting on a spare desk beside him, frowning.

She'd been doing that for two class periods now. Ever since she'd showed up in his room yesterday morning, she'd been following him around like an extra shadow, getting more and more moody.

Ron sneaked a glance at Mr. Barkin, who was reading a lacrosse magazine with his feet up on the desk. He wasn't paying attention to anyone.

"What's wrong?" Ron muttered.

Kim blinked in surprise and looked over at him. "Shouldn't you be concentrating on the Panama Canal?"

"'Panama Canal?' I thought that was Carey Grant."

Kim groaned and smacked her forehead.

"Oh right! That was a movie." Ron was about to ask Kim again what was wrong when a huge shadow appeared over his paper. He looked up meekly to see Steve Barkin glaring at him.

"Talking to yourself again, Stoppable? Or are we _cheating_?" He glowered and leaned into Ron's face.

"Mr. B! No...um...just talking...to myself. Again." Ron cleared his throat.

Barkin straightened, not at all convinced. "Well, I'm sure you can carry on a more verbal conversation with yourself _after_ class."

"Right," Ron replied.

Barkin mumbled inaudibly to himself and strode away to pick on other unfortunate students. Ron returned to his hopeless essay (concerning Roosevelt's record-breaking homerun streak, earning him the nickname 'Big Stick'), scribbling diligently. Kim was still frowning.

"What gives, Kim?" demanded Ron. He was eating lunch outside. Kim was watching him, feeling irritated.

Kim didn't answer, but reached over and slightly jiggled the lunch tray, surveying the wobbling motion of the gelatinous mystery meat gravy.

"Kim?"

"I can't smell it. I should probably be glad, huh?" Kim said, slumping back in her seat dejectedly.

"Can't smell what?" Ron was confused.

"Lunch," she said bluntly.

"What's got you so tweaked? You cheated death, and now you get to walk around high school and watch the rest of us suffer! Personally, I think you got the better end of the deal." Ron began shifting his mystery meat around cautiously. "Come on, no homework, no gym class..."

"No contact, no friends, no family, no cheerleading, no yearbook, no..."

"Oh. I see."

"I didn't just miss _you_, Ron, I missed life. And I still miss it."

Ron was quiet for a minute. Then, "Wait. Kim, how long have you been hanging around?"

She raised an eyebrow. "About a month," she said slowly.

"So it _was_ you in the gym that one day! You caught the basketball and scared Monique and I out of our wits!"

Kim's eyes lit up. "That's right! Monique saw me! Maybe she can see me now...where is she?"

Ron twisted around in his chair, scanning the lawn. "Don't know. Lets try in the caf, 'kay?"

They jumped up and ran into the cafeteria, eyes peeled for Monique.

"There she is." Ron pointed to the corner. "Behind the Club Banana catalog."

Kim nodded and they started in that direction.

"Hey! Monique!" Ron shouted.

The girl glanced up from her catalog. Her eyes went round and she dropped it. "K- K-...

Kim?" Her voice was hoarse.

Kim and Ron casually dropped into chairs at Monique's table.

"'Sup?" asked Ron, a mischievous smile on his face.

Monique's jaw dropped and she reached across the table for Kim's hand. "Girl, is it you?" she asked incredulously.

Kim smiled timidly. "Yes."

Ron grinned. "Two down, the world to go."


	6. Meet the family

1Ron was nervous as he approached the Possible house for the first time in a month. Monique was behind him, chattering non-stop under her breath to Kim, who was being jumpy. Ron knew she was nervous too; what if her family couldn't see her? Ron took a deep breath. They'd be able to see her. They had to.

Just as the trio set foot on the front lawn, an enormous explosion coming from the house shook the ground. Kim's eyes grew wide.

"What on earth are the Tweebs _doing_?"she asked as they sprinted up to the house and straight in the front door without knocking.

"Jim! Tim! What were you _thinking?_ You know what the fire department said last time you remodeled the furnace!" Mrs. Possible's disembodied voice floated down the hallway to them.

"We were just trying to amplify it."

"A few modifications and we'd be able to heat the entire Tri-City this winter!"

"Before or after you've burned the house down?"

Kim couldn't help herself any longer. She slipped away from Ron and Monique and jogged down the hall and out of sight.

"Um, that might not have been the smartest thing to do," mumbled Monique.

"Yeah," agreed Ron, and motioned for Monique to follow him down the hallway. A scream met them halfway.

Ron and Monique broke into a dead run, bolting around the corner and stopping short.

Mrs. Possible looked, indeed, as if she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide and frosted with disbelief. Jim and Tim, however, looked horror-struck.

"We didn't mean to, Kim! Really! We just wanted to see what sort of security devices Wade had put in your room! Please don't come back and haunt us!" they pleaded together, backing away from their sister.

For a moment, Kim looked just as furious as she used to when the Tweebs invaded her privacy. "You destroyed my room? You...you..." Then, just as the twins were cowering lower, Kim rushed to them and pulled them both into her arms. "You Tweebs!" she said finally.

Jim and Tim exchanged looks behind Kim's back. When she released them, Jim cocked his head at her.

"I didn't think ghosts could hug people."

"Yeah! I always thought they'd go right through!" added Tim, stepping towards Kim with shining eyes. "Hoosha!"

Kim laughed and rumpled their hair.

Mrs. Possible looked towards Ron helplessly. "What's going on? Kim, I thought..."

Kim stood up. "I am, mom. Or, maybe I _was._" She smiled weakly. "But I'm here, aren't I? That's something, isn't it?"

Mrs. Possible broke down, tears coming as fast as the laughter as she hugged her daughter.

"My Kimmy-Cub. I'm so glad to see you..."

"I'm back mom, I'm back," Kim murmured into her mother's hair.

Mrs. Possible pulled away, surveying Kim. "Your father will be so happy to have you home again."

"I'm glad to _be_ home again, mom." She turned to regard her brothers, her eyes narrowing. "Now, _what_ exactly did you do to my room?"

Jim and Tims' eyes grew wide. They glanced at each other.

"Um, gotta go!" they said in unison, disappearing down the hallway.

Ron moved up to Kim. "So Wade has cameras and stuff in your room?"

Kim raised and eyebrow. "I guess so."

"What kind of things do think he has in mine? Do I get cool cameras and lasers, too?"

Kim laughed.


	7. Mind of a Child

1I don't own Kim Possible, dead or alive...but I wish I did:)

Kim lay awake in her bed, thinking. Not that she could sleep anymore; sleep wasn't something she needed.

Maybe, if enough people could see her, she'd be able to come back fully. The theory was plausible enough. Each time another person saw her, more of her senses came back, and she was able to function a bit more with the real world.

That basketball she'd caught all those weeks ago had been the first step. Before then, she'd been able to slide right through doors and every other solid thing in her path. After Ron and Monique had spotted her, the ball hadn't passed through her. Still, the power to go through things had come and gone for a few more weeks. She'd gradually been able to concentrate on things hard enough to touch them.

From the instant she had died and left her body, her only impulse had been to follow Ron. _Believe me when I tell you...that I will _never_ leave you._ Her last words, her last request, granted by the spectral figure standing above her in her final moments. So she had followed Ron as if bound to him, which in fact, she was. At least, it seemed she had been until he'd seen her.

Ron had given her the ability to feel the things she touched. She had dreaded touching anything with her hands before that, because she could feel neither hot nor cold, hard nor soft. Yet, the moment she'd touched Ron, his soft hair and warm back, she could feel everything again.

She wasn't sure whether it had been Monique or her family that had brought back the ability to smell. Kim smiled to herself in the dark. She'd spent dinner sitting between Jim and Tim, alternately scratching their backs and pulling their hair; breathing deeply the smell of her mother's meatloaf.

Downstairs, she heard a small whining noise. Curious, she left her attic bedroom to see what was wrong. She followed the sound to Jim and Tim's room, where Tim was jerking around in his bed, whining.

"Tim?"

He didn't answer. Kim crossed to his bed and touched her brother's back.

"Tim?"

"No, mom, no. Not Kim..."

Kim frowned. She was back, why would he have nightmares about her?

"Tim, I'm okay. I'm right here," she soothed, rubbing his back. A sudden image of her mother and father looking down at her flooded her mind.

_"Jim, Tim... Kim is gone."_

_Her father leaned down and picked her up. She turned her head to see Jim beside her in their mother's arms. She wasn't Kim right now. She was Tim. _

_"No, dad...please... Mom, can't you fix her?" Jim pleaded, crying._

_"Make her all right, mom!" she heard Tim's voice say._

_"I'm sorry kids, but that's not possible," murmured her mother._

_"Anything's possible for a Possible!" wailed Tim. Kim felt hot tears sliding down her cheeks._

_"Not this, Tim," whispered her father. "Not this."_

Kim gasped and recoiled from Tim, who was now silent. She'd just stolen his memory of her death. She'd just stolen it... He wouldn't remember she had died when he woke up. To Tim, she was alive.

Alarmed at her abilities, Kim fled her brother's room, shaking. The memories. They were the key. If she could erase everyone's memories... No, it _would_ be impossible to steal the memories of all her classmates, foes, and admirers. Perhaps just one of the memories was the key. One memory that would erase all the other's if eradicated. Kim frowned in the dark, then returned to her bedroom, anxious to see what Tim would think when he woke up.


	8. Manipulated

1Don't own Kim...yadda yadda...

Saturday. The universal Sleep-In-Until-Noon day. And yet, Ron couldn't sleep anymore. He groaned and rolled over in his covers to see that it was only 8:20. He closed his eyes, trying to drift back to sleep.

BANG.

Ron sat bolt-upright in bed, eyes wide. Kim had just burst into his bedroom, looking extremely frazzled.

"Ron! You'll never guess what happened," she gasped.

Ron jumped out of bed and closed the door behind her. "What? What happened, Kim?"

Kim collapsed in his desk chair, still looking shocked. "I heard Tim crying in his sleep last night...so I went down to see what was wrong."

"Is Tim okay?" asked Ron, sitting down in front of her on the floor.

"Yeah...it's just he's...he's..." Kim couldn't continue.

"What?"

"Ron, Tim doesn't know I'm dead," Kim said, staring at him wildly.

Ron blinked and frowned. "I know you're solid, KP, but, um...why?"

Kim shook her head. "You remember that memory I brought back for you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I touched Tim's back and I saw into his memory. I saw my parents telling him and Jim that I was dead... Ron, I think I stole the memory, because this morning at breakfast he asked me if I would take him and Jim to the movies... Mom looked at him like he'd gone crazy. He couldn't remember that I'd died, Ron. He doesn't remember it. He doesn't even remember me going on that mission." Kim looked disturbed.

Ron, however, seemed excited. "Kim, if you can erase his memory, then you can erase everyone's memory! You can come back!"

Kim shook her head. "Think about it, Ron. It wouldn't work. The whole school, the whole Tri-City, and everyone I've ever helped...they all know I'm dead. That's a lot of memories, Ron."

"Oh." Ron was crestfallen. "What about just your family and close friends?" he asked, having another stab at it.

"How weird would that be, Ron? They'd all think I was alive, but the rest of the world wouldn't...it wouldn't work, either Ron. I think I'd better not risk manipulating anyone else's memories." She paused for a moment, staring around the room. "I thought that maybe if just enough people could see me, you know, just cuz they want to that maybe I'd come back. There's other people I'd like to know I was here."

"Who?" Ron's voice was flat and deflated. For a few minutes, he'd been sure she'd be able to come back to him.

Kim smiled sympathetically and poked his shoulder. "I haven't talked to Wade in ages. It'd be nice to have him to talk to again."

Ron nodded, staring at the floor.

Kim stood up, pulling him up with her. "I'm sorry, Ron."

"It's just...you're here. But the longer you stick around, the more I realize you're _not_ here. I don't like it."

"Do you want me to leave, Ron?" asked Kim in a small voice.

"No!" Ron hugged her hard. "Don't you _dare_ leave me ever again!"


	9. Return of the PuppyDog Pout

1I don't own Kim Possible or Extreme Makeover.

As it turned out, all Ron had to do was flip on the Kimmunicator. Wade could see Kim standing over his shoulder.

Quite apart from now having someone else to talk to, Kim could also now bounce theories off of Wade. He seemed very interested in her ability to manipulate memories and agreed with her that she should be very careful with her powers from now on.

"But still, maybe the memories are the key to you coming back. I'll do some research on it," he said dutifully.

"Please and thank you," Kim said, and nodded at him as she signed off the Kimmunicator. She wasn't too hopeful of him finding anything, but she figured he was probably glad to be putting his brain to use again. He'd told her once that he got really bored without a mission every few days.

"So, Kim. Do you wanna go do something?" asked Ron, who was sitting in the Possible's living room with Monique.

Kim looked at him and shrugged.

Monique raised an eyebrow at Kim. "Come on girl, I know you better than that. Tell you what, lets go to Club Banana."

Ron rolled his eyes. Kim forced a laugh. "Monique, you know I can't. There's too many people in there. I could, you know, step on someone's foot or something."

"Girl, you must be dead to not have realized what's going on this weekend at the mall," Monique said, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

Kim leaned forward. "What?"

Monique smiled, sending a sly smile towards Ron. "_Extreme Makeover_ is finishing a house up in Upperton today. That's where everyone will be, girl! I can guarantee the mall empty."

Kim's eyes grew wide. "Really?" She was smiling.

Monique nodded smugly.

"What are we waiting for, then?" demanded Kim, jumping up and running to yank Ron to his feet. "Oh, you're such a spoil-sport, Ron," snapped Kim, seeing the disgruntled expression Ron wore.

Ron glowered at her. "You know why I'm mad."

"And there's nothing I can do about it. Please come to the mall with me?"

Ron shook his head. "I think I'll hit Bueno Nacho instead." He turned and left the living room.

"Oh no he didn't," said Monique angrily. "Girl, that boy just walked out on you!" She looked at Kim, expecting her to do something.

Kim stared after him for a moment, at a loss. Then a smile crossed her face. "Oh no he doesn't," said Kim triumphantly and stalked after him.

She caught up with him in the hallway. "Ron, wait!"

Slowly, Ron turned around. Suddenly, a look of great distress came over his face.

Kim was standing there innocently as ever...

"Not the puppy-dog pout!" he wailed, covering his face in his hands. Then without warning, Ron lowered his and started laughing. "The puppy-dog pout. I'd almost forgot."

"He's coming with us, Monique!" Kim shouted down the hall. She wrapped her arms around his neck and turned whisper in his ear. "Gotcha."

Author's Note: Thank you _Extreme Makeover_ for providing a good diversion for Kim to get into the mall. _Makeover_ just finished doing a house in my neighborhood, and I just couldn't think of anything else that would distract everyone... :)


	10. The Monk

1I don't own KP...but you probably figured that out. Don't own Extreme Makeover either...oiy, that'd be weird.

Monique was entirely right about the mall being deserted. In fact, they didn't see more than ten people the entire way to Club Banana. Monique and Ron ventured into the shop first, having a good look around before, motioning for Kim to follow. The only person in the entire store was a very bored-looking college girl who was preoccupied by couple of magazines. On the counter beside her was a sign reading: _Welcome, Extreme Makeover!_

Kim grinned and followed Monique to the back of the store and they started riffling through racks of clothing, pulling out shirt after shirt and holding them up to each other. Ron pretended to think all the clothes they tried on were horrible, but Kim knew he was having fun.

"What about these pants, girl?" asked Monique holding up matching jeans.

"Spankin'!" enthused Kim, moving to take one from her.

"We could have matching outfits and no one would know."

Kim held the pants up to her and glanced in a mirror. She gasped and dropped the pants, staring at the glass.

"Wrong size?" asked Monique, coming to stand beside her. She turned and looked into the mirror too.

"Ron, come here," whispered Monique, staring terrified into the mirror.

Ron got up from his place on the floor and looked into the mirror. It was just him and Monique standing there. He jumped and spun to look at Kim.

Kim was gazing at him, pleading in her eyes. "I saw my reflection this morning Ron. Something's wrong."

Ron looked from her to the mirror several times, speechless. "You're disappearing," he gagged.

As if on cue, the Kimmunicator, lodged in Ron's pocket, beeped. Ron whipped it out, then without waiting for Wade to say anything, he barreled ahead with the situation.

"Wade, Kim's reflection is gone...we can't see her in the mirror!"

Wade looked worried. "But she's still there, right?"

"Yeah," said Ron, breathless.

"Is she still solid?"

Ron nodded.

"Let me talk to her," Wade ordered.

Ron handed the Kimmunicator over soundlessly, staring at Kim with the utmost longing in his eyes. She couldn't disappear again, she just couldn't...

"Tell me you have good news, Wade," Kim pleaded as she walked into one of the dressing rooms. It would raise interesting questions if the girl behind the counter got up to check on them and saw the Kimmunicator hanging in mid-air.

"Actually, I do. I've been researching ghosts and you'd be surprised how many reliable resources there are."

"Great Wade. I'll remember that for my next science class report. _If I ever get to go back to school, that is._"

Wade nodded. "I found a journal written by monk in England over five hundred years ago. It says that he saw one of his pupils killed by a wolf. This pupil was very special. Everyone in the monastery loved him, and he was kind and giving. One day, roughly a month after his death, the monk says his pupil reappeared to him as a ghost. The story goes on to say that the pupil was eventually seen by his other friends and teachers, and they said that when he was near them they relived memories as distinctly as if was happening again."

"The same thing that's happened to me!"

"Exactly."

"So did the kid ever come back completely?"

"That's the interesting part. Listen: the monks all began meditating and praying for their pupil, asking their god to either remove his shadow from this world or to grant his soul safe passage back to his body. One day as he was mediating, the monk in question says he received inspiration to ask the student to come to him and help him relive the memory of his death."

Kim was listening, spellbound.

Wade continued. "The pupil came to his master and it says that together they performed a ritual in which the pupil erased the memory of his death from his master's mind. And from the moment they left the master's chambers together, no one else remembered the student's death except the student and his master."

Kim felt tears slip out of her eyes even as she stared at Wade wildly, trying to wrap her mind around the miracle. "I could...erase Ron's memory...and I'd be alive again?" she choked.

Wade smiled kindly. "It's worth a try, right?"

Kim closed her eyes and sank down on the dark floor of the dressing room, sobbing real tears. Where had they come from? It didn't matter...it didn't matter. She'd be all right. She'd be more than all right.


	11. Impossibly Possible

1I don't own Kim Possible...yep.

Ron hung his head as he and Kim walked slowly up the hill to his house. Kim hadn't said anything about what Wade had told her, but she seemed happier now, and resolute.

Monique had sensed something was going on, and had said she felt like catching a movie before calling it a day.

"What did he say, KP?"

"Oh, well, everything that I wanted to hear."

Ron stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes bulging. "You're...can you..."

Kim took a deep breath. "Lie down on the grass, Ron."

He frowned and jerked his head around. They were standing in his front yard. The streets were still deserted; everyone who was anyone was in Upperton today. Ron shrugged and laid down on the grass.

Kim knelt down next to him, looking uncertain.

"What's wrong, KP?"

Kim took a deep breath. "This is going to hurt, Ron. It's going to hurt a lot. But I need to tell you."

Ron nodded. "Anything to get you back, KP."

Ron closed his eyes, settling back into the warm grass. He felt Kim's fingertips pause uncertainly on his chest, the slowly slip down until her palm was pressed against him.

_There was a sharp, stabbing pain in his side that seemed to consume him. Gasping painfully, he opened his eyes. Ron found himself kneeling beside himself and Kim, who was lying in his arms, dying. Except now, judging by the pain in his side, he was _feeling _her die._

_Ron could feel life ebbing away and the pain slowly but steadily diminishing into shock as he realized that he was leaving. He wasn't ever going to see his friends or family again. _

_Something inside of him cried out to stay._

_"You really want to stay?" came a bemused voice above him. Shocked, Ron looked up and saw a young woman robed in white gazing down at Kim. _

_"Yes. Yes," Kim gasped. Ron wondered how she'd managed to say anything, the amount of pain she was in._

_He looked at the newcomer more closely. She looked a lot like Kim. Almost identical, in fact. Despite that, he was almost certain he'd seen her somewhere else...in a dream. Then he realized: Kim had seen Miriam Possible. Ron squinted at her, her white gown almost blinding him. She spoke again, her voice slightly deeper than Kim's._

_"Stay, Kimberly. You can stay."_

_Ron felt peace suffuse him as Miriam faded away, smiling. A sudden stab of pain, right through his heart, brought him back to his senses for a moment and he panicked as the darkness became a swirling monster confronting him. He looked down into Kim's face, wondering how on earth she was coping with it...then realized Kim was staring fixedly into the other Ron's face as she slowly melted away._

_The last thing Ron heard was his own stifled sobbing._

Ron bolted up from the grass. Kim shrank back, tears clawing their way down her face.

"Please don't be mad," she whispered. "You said..."

But Ron cut her off. "What? Don't be mad?" Ron screamed at her, forgetting that he looked like a lunatic yelling at the air. "The worst possible thing you could ever show me..."

"I needed to! You said - "

"No you didn't! You knew you were hurting me!"

"Ron!"

"You know! You know I cried for nights over you! You know I couldn't sleep! You know I forced myself to eat and to act normal because I had convinced myself you wouldn't want me to agonize over you. I kept going to school, even. Everyone told me to just quit for a while but I didn't!"

"And I'm proud of you –"

Ron's eyes were blazing in with a sort of unearthly fury. "I carried your casket at your funeral. I did everything I could..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Then you show up. I hadn't lost you. I could have you all to myself and no one else would know. And then..." He took a breath, his eyes popping. "...and then... you go and show me THAT!"

"Ron..." Kim stared at him helplessly, completely forgetting why she'd shown him the memory. Why had she felt so happy just a few minutes ago?

Ron stopped shouting, deflated. His face was covered in tears. Sobbing, he collapsed into Kim's lap. "I love you," he choked.

Kim bit her lip and stroked his head. "I'm sorry Ron. I was just trying to...to..."

"Look at that, girls. Looks like Kim is trying to house-train the Mad Dog. Of course, that's impossible, even for a Possible."

Kim's head jerked up. Bonnie Rockwaller was standing on the sidewalk with a bunch of her friends, all looking at her and Ron as if they were idiots.

"Fancy meeting _you_ here, Bonnie. Thought you'd be up at the makeover with everyone else," Kim said smoothly. "Or did all the celebrities get sick at the sight of you?"

Bonnie made a face and quickly ushered her girls away.

"Nice one, KP," said Ron, his voice cracking as he slowly got up from the grass. "Sorry I yelled at you. I just..."

Kim smiled. "No big, Ron. Too bad Bonnie had to walk in on us..." Her voice trailed off. Ron was staring at her, leaning forward, mouth open.

"Kim...Bonnie saw you. _Bonnie_ _saw you_!" He leaned further towards her, his eyes bulging.

Kim spun around to look at Bonnie's retreating back. "I can't believe it... Come on!"

She grabbed Ron's shirt and started dragging him down the hill towards Bonnie and her gang. They reached them a moment later, panting slightly.

"What do _you_ want?"sneered Bonnie.

"You can...you can _see_ me, right?" asked Kim, holding her breath.

"Yeah. And wish I couldn't." Bonnie held up her hand, jerked her head, and walked around Kim like she was an overly large bug.

Kim and Ron watched the girls leave once again. The minute they were out of earshot, Kim and Ron burst into hysterical laughter, hugging each other.

"I can't believe it!" shouted Kim.

"The look on Bonnie's face when you asked her if she could see you..." Ron couldn't say anymore, he was clutching a stitch in his side.

"So, are you going to welcome me back yet?" teased Kim.

Ron looked up at her. "Kim, nothing could show you how glad I am right now...except maybe..." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Even while you were here, I missed you." He stood back, nodding contentedly. "I've missed you."


End file.
